1. Technical Field
The present subject matter relates to valves. More specifically, the present subject matter relates to a pneumatically controlled, rapid-opening, gas valve.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of valves suitable for controlling a flow of a gas are known in the art. Common types of gas valves mechanisms include ball valves, butterfly valves, and poppet valves. Gas valves may be actuated manually, electrically, or pneumatically. Some valves allow fine control of the flow of gas and others may simply have an open and a closed position. Some applications, such as for a bead seating tool used to seat a tubeless tire on a rim, require a rapidly opening valve to provide a burst of air. Valves designed to provide a fine control of gas flow are not suitable for such applications requiring a large burst of air.
One conventional design for a rapidly opening gas valve is the butterfly valve. Conventional butterfly valves hold pressurized gas in a tank until the butterfly valve is opened, allowing a burst of pressurized gas to escape from the tank. However, the design of conventional butterfly valves suffers from limitation in the speed with which the butterfly valve can be opened, allowing the pressurized gas from a tank to escape.